peacefully. this becomes a blackeye for the state department and april glaspie. i think it is a tragedy her impressive career gets derailed and destroyed by the fact she becomes the poster child for having done something she did not do. she becomes the poster child for giving the green light when she never actually said that. host: is quite a testimony to how -- it is quite a testimony to have narratives and memory effect how we view history. thank you, jeffrey engel, talking to us about the 35th methodist university. thank you so much. guest: good to talk to you. host: thank you to everyone who called in on "washington journal." we will be back with another addition tomorrow at seven :00 a.m. eastern. next we have "ceasefire". have a great day. ♪

dasha: , where we seek to bridge the divide in american politics. i am dasha burns. joining me on either side of the desk, two guests who agreed to keep the conversation civil even when they disagree. new york republican congressman mike lawler and new jersey democratic congressman josh gottheimer. thank you both for joining me. i hear you to our best these -- you two are bestie. >> no one is going to see this, right? dasha: this is just in the bubble. how did this friendship start? >> part of it is because we live about 20 minutes away from each other. he's in new jersey, i'm in new york. our district's border each other. we have a similar sense of humor

. as they often say with new york, it is the three i's, italian, irish, israel. he's jewish, i'm catholic. rep. lawler: wait, you are not jewish? rep. gottheimer: no, people are shocked by that. he finally came up to me and said i know the pizza and the bagels are better in jersey, this is a good guy. rep. lawler: that's fighting words. dasha: it is true. rep. gottheimer: mike is a great guy. we agree on a lot of stuff, we disagree, but work together on so much legislation that we have gotten to know each other. if you are willing to talk to each other and get to know each other's families, it's just how it should be. dasha: it is not just bagel

banter, you have worked on legislation. how does that play out in a deeply divided congress? rep. lawler: one of the things that matters is the fact that, because it's so divided, it only takes a few votes one way or the other to advance legislation. being able to work together on issues we agree on, whether foreign policy surrounding israel and the middle east or lifting the cap on salt, josh championed that for years. rep. gottheimer: fighting the congestion tax. rep. lawler: these are issues on the national and local level that impact our constituents. i go to church in his district. i always have for 35 years. rep. gottheimer: i tried to block that, but it did not work. [laughter] rep. lawler: apparently my passport gives me entry into new jersey. dasha: you need a checkpoint there. [laughter] rep. gottheimer: check your

visa. rep. lawler: what you realize is most things are common sense. if you are willing to talk to each other and figure out where you can agree, 80% of the things you can agree on. you have to be willing to talk and listen to one another. dasha: that's the rub because right now partisanship is kind of trendy among your people on the hill. do you ever get pushback from your fellow members of congress for crossing party lines? rep. gottheimer: here you get lots of pushback from party leadership. you go home and people are happy that you are talking to each other. dasha: that is a disconnect. rep. gottheimer: they want you to get stuff done. when mike and i worked together on various things to get stuff across the finish line to help the people we represent, that is a win, we put the country first. when you have that mentality, it is amazing how much you can get done. mike, i often see him hanging out on the house floor, the

place where democrats and republicans as it. -- and republicans sit. i wander over. dasha: this is high school lunch table stuff. rep. gottheimer: that is how you get stuff done. everything is building a relationship. rep. lawler: like anything in life, it is entirely built on relationships. you could be the most progressive or the most conservative and still find an area of agreement and work together. that happens way more than i think people realize. for folks like josh and i, where our districts are more in the center, it is a bit more natural. with respect to new york, new jersey, very similar dynamics, very similar constituency. it helps when we do a lot of stuff together. i feel like a giant standing next to him. [laughter] rep. gottheimer: trump is sitting on two phonebooks right

now just to be up here. he's a giant of men, really. [laughter] dasha: do you experience the same thing, a bit of flack from leadership here, but your constituents back home and enjoy that you can work across the aisle? rep. lawler: part of the big problem in washington is that most of the districts are not competitive. two decades ago there were over 100 districts that were competitive. today it is less than 35. dasha: you are trying to make that even -- [laughter] rep. lawler: with redistricting, maybe even less. there's only a handful of members in these competitive seats and you have to build bipartisan consensus to get reelected, to get support in your district. my district is one that kamala harris won, so might constituents appreciate when i reach across the aisle. josh has always been among the most bipartisan members of congress. dasha: is that a badge of honor

today? rep. lawler: for me it is. i'm proud of that. that's how you get things done. rep. gottheimer: what is interesting about that, what you realize, if -- a lot of our colleagues worry only about their primaries and they focus their time on this 10% or 12% of the entire electorate. in the places we live and represent, you have to talk to 80% if you want to get reelected and come back. that means you are talking to democrats, republicans, independents. i think that makes for great governing. mike and i were walking in the capital last week and there's a bunch of cops walking by. very supportive of law enforcement and so is mike. the cops were as excited to see mike as they were to see me. we are taking a picture together. if people saw this, they would

feel a lot better about washington. dasha: problem solvers caucus, give me the quick elevator pitch. rep. lawler: this is a caucus that started when josh came in with tom reed, the new york republican. ultimately it is built out. it is one of the only bipartisan caucuses in congress, so it's important even if you don't get consensus on legislation just to sit down and talk and be able to address issues that come up. obviously been working on health care and trying to find a bipartisan agreement. that came out of work from problem solvers and if you group where we formulated a bipartisan working group. we passed last week the discharge on the three year with the intention of getting it to the senate, so the senate could

come back with a bipartisan compromise. a lot of that is rooted in the work we've done over the past few months as a house bipartisan caucus. problem solvers is vital, as is the general importance of members sitting down across party lines. dasha: what is the relationship between problem solvers and house leadership? is it good? rep. lawler: what did nancy pelosi used to call it, problem causers? [laughter] rep. gottheimer: there are some in leadership that don't like when you make a bipartisan deal, because they might want to use the issue for political gain. but the stuff that gets done inevitably happens because of groups like the problem solvers caucus, members who are more like us, saying, where is the deal? we sat down with a group of bipartisan centers last week.

on the affordable care act, where can we agree and try to get to the 75% consensus. when we do, let's back that. whether you are talking about the infrastructure bill, about the last gun safety bill that was done in a bipartisan way, or health care, the only way this stuff gets done during the pandemic as well is if we talk together and a bipartisan group brings it across the finish line. we may not be the biggest tweeters, but the governing part of getting stuff done is when the problem solvers caucus steps and. rep. lawler: look at someone like marjorie taylor greene who just left. what accomplishments did you have in five years? nothing. there's not one single piece of legislation. dasha: what do you attribute that to? rep. lawler: the inability to work across party lines, to build consensus. when you have such tight

majorities and most of the districts are not competitive in a general election, and people are more focused on the base of the respective parties, it's hard to build that consensus. part of the reason why i've been legislatively successful is because we tried to build that consensus. when the extremes are not going to vote for the final product, but the middle can carry the day, that's how you get big things done in washington. recognizing the way the senate functions, where you need 60 votes on almost everything, you need bipartisan support in the senate. you start from a place of bipartisan support in the house, it's a lot easier to get to the final agreement than if you are starting from a place of "i don't need the other side." rep. gottheimer: health care is a great example. when we sat down, we said we have to get the costs down to lower insurance premiums.

so where are the areas we agree? can you give on this or that? no one actually says, mike, would you be ok if we did this? no, i can live with that. i found over the years that, as a democrat, i read the paper and think he will never support that . when you talk, he says i can live with that. that is how you actually govern. dasha: people don't see that enough. gallup put out these numbers last month. the president's approval rating at 36%. congressional republicans and democrats are even worse, sorry to say. congressional republicans at 29%, congressional democrats at 24%. rep. lawler: we are in the people that like us. [laughter] dasha: people don't love government in general at the federal level, but especially congress.

what can congress do to change this? rep. lawler: i think this is true a writ large of our country over the past 20 years, especially with the advent of social media, where everything is bloodsport. everything every day is soaked in negativity. generally the american people, it ebbs and flows, but they are generally frustrated with politics and government. the bottom line to me is they want us to get things done. they want us to be able to address the economy, the cost of living, economic growth, border security, health care, housing. 8 million units under built nationwide. often we are talking about things that may excite the base and get the news media to get into a frenzy, but don't actually solve major problems facing the country. we have serious issues to deal

with. josh and i are both on financial services. we focused extensively on serious issues impacting the country. our committee work is focused on serious issues, not the tit-for-tat that is often seen in washington on some of these other committees. generally, if the american people saw that we were addressing on a daily basis the larger more complex issues that really do require you to sit down with the other side and say, hey, what can you give on here? that's what we have endeavored on in health care, childcare. rep. gottheimer: energy prices. rep. lawler: and so on. if people saw more of that rather than the hyper-partisan name-calling, i think the approval ratings would be a lot higher. people would say, they are dealing with real issues. rep. gottheimer: you get this

from a media perspective, it's not always interesting to have people agree. dasha: i love this. [laughter] rep. gottheimer: most of the times on tv and cable news they want the soundbite of us screaming at each other, the nasty tweet, that's what gets more attention, so of course people feed it more. members of congress are like, if i want more attention i have to say something nasty about the other side. rep. lawler: or crazy. dasha: for both of you, what is your message to house republican leadership, and i will ask you the same for the democrats? rep. lawler: same message before we went on break and i signed the discharge, we have to tackle these issues from housing to energy to health care to immigration. i believe fundamentally on housing. 8 million plus units under built. we need to build more housing if we want to bring down costs.

we need to reform obamacare. since obamacare took effect, health insurance premiums have risen 96%. it's not enough to just say obamacare bad. what are we doing to address that? the speaker put forth a bill. every republican voted for it. cbo estimated it would bring down health premiums by 11%. we need to get that across the finish line. you look at immigration, i am a co-lead on the dignity act. we need a path forward to address those that are here illegally or undocumented. not a path to citizenship, but a path to legalization so they are out of the shadows and are here in a way that is constructive to the economy and country. if we sat down and went through energy, permitting reform -- we talked about the need for permitting reform for years. do it. to enter the question --

rep. gottheimer: to answer the question, what we need to do is encourage our leadership to not just go out there and every day say, okay, how am i going to stab the other side? versus, imagine if you said we know we have to get more houses built, got to get utility bills down. dasha: you are all on the same page about this. rep. gottheimer: what if we actually got together and solved some of those problems and negotiated? dasha: sounds so easy. [laughter] rep. gottheimer: everyone will look good, will get stuff done. there are still policy differences. they will still know mike is more on this issue and i am a little more on this issue. wouldn't that be great if they said let's get everyone in a room? dasha: let's get to the fundamentals of what you are working on. one of the biggest issues for americans right now is health

care. congressman lawler, you voted with 17 republicans that voted with democrats to extend the affordable care act subsidies for three years. that is basically doa in the senate. why did you decide to vote with democrats here? what do you think comes next? rep. lawler: after the shutdown, we all agreed we needed to sit down and talk about how to address the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credit. the consensus was we have to do it for about two years. we can't just do a clean extension. dasha: that is what you voted for. rep. lawler: we came up with a real reform package. there were a number of different ideas and bills put forth, but ultimately the objective was to do an extension with income

limits, with insurance reforms, with the elimination of zero premium plans. we tried to get that to the floor for a vote working with house republican leadership. for various reasons we could not get there. my objective was not to say, okay, i tried. my objective was to say we cannot go this route, there's another vehicle here, let's get the senate to get the bipartisan agreement. we know the three year clean extension is not becoming law. it's a tax bill. it had to originate in the house. the senators needed to show there's is bipartisan support to do something on this. i think 17 republicans across the aisle -- dasha: that's a big statement. rep. lawler: especially given republicans have never voted in favor of obamacare. this was an important moment. now can the senate come to an agreement? we had a productive conversation last week. the problem solvers caucus, with

the senators leading this effort. i think we can get there if everybody is willing to take incoming from their own side and realize we have to put the people above party politics. dasha: aren't democrats on the same page? rep. gottheimer: 100%. january 15 is when open enrollment ends. in jersey for a family of four, premiums will go up $20,000 and that is unaffordable, so the y will switch to a different plan or drop their coverage. that will happen in many places. that is unacceptable. our job is to get health care costs down. either you say forget it and walk away, or say we have to find a solution. and you don't give up. dasha: what are democrats willing to compromise on? rep. gottheimer: the things we are considering, zero dollars

premiums, you have some sort of minimum monthly premium. i think you have to do everything you can to deal with fraud. dasha: income caps? rep. gottheimer: there's different numbers on income caps to be decided. there's plenty of things we should all give on to get people's premiums down. last week we showed we can do it. to your point on leadership, do both sides want to use it for political purposes, or do we try to get something done? mike and i are focused on one thing, getting something actually into law to the president's desk. rep. lawler: if you want to understand how screwed up washington is, the dccc is running ads against me that i let the tax credit expired, and yet last week most of their members were praising me for signing the discharge. dasha: i'm sure you had some republicans mad at you. rep. lawler: this is why it is

so difficult to get things done. the objective to me is you have to let that noise go by the wayside and focus on the issue. if we can get this agreement on the enhanced premium tax credit, i think then it allows us to focus on the larger health care issue and address the challenges. the enhanced premium tax credit applies to about 7% of the population, which means 93% are seeing premiums still go up. we have to find bigger reforms to the system. i think this is a positive step forward to get people to recognize we can advance a bipartisan compromise. we don't have to die on the hill of defending obamacare or railing against it. we can say we have to fix this. rep. lawler: permitting reform, huge issue where both sides really agree on this.

we can get things built faster, get more energy up and running, but again, you will have people really angry at us, but we know there's a place where we can find common ground. are you going to do it or not? dasha: you are both on the house financial services committee. another big headline this week was the justice department opened an investigation into the federal reserve's renovation of its washington dc headquarters. prosecutors claim fed chairman jerome powell lied about the cost of the renovations. listen. >> this is about whether the fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation. i have served at the federal reserve under four administrations, republicans and democrats alike. in every case i have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our

mandate of price stability and maximum employment. public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. i will continue to do the job the senate confirmed me to do with integrity and a commitment to serving the american people. dasha: for a congress that has rarely disagreed with the president on anything, i'm surprised how much republicans have cried foul on this issue. do you think this is a dangerous road for this administration to take? rep. lawler: i do. there's no question jerome powell was late to the ballgame in terms of addressing inflation under joe biden, and late in terms of starting to reduce interest rates now. but the independence of the fed is critical. i don't think there should be undue pressures applied. jerome powell's term is quickly

expiring. it's obvious he will not be reappointed as fed chair. dasha: but he might stick around on the board because of this. rep. lawler: i think everybody understands he's not going to be the chair. for the department of justice to go after him over his testimony or discrepancies with respect to the overspending on the renovations to the federal reserve building, i don't think that is appropriate. i don't think that is helpful. i think the focus needs to be on the economy and how we address the challenges facing the country. frankly i think this is wasted time and effort. dasha: i want to talk about the potential of another government shutdown. axios writes that furious democrats threaten the government shutdown after minneapolis shooting, seeing the

funding cliff is a leverage point to exploit. is this the hill to die on for the democrats? rep. gottheimer: i have serious issues with what is going on in minnesota. we should not shut the government down. i'm very hopeful that we will get agreement on our appropriations work on the annual budget and will not shut the government down. it makes zero sense to do that. i am hopeful we will get there in the next few days. on the fed point, i agree with mike, the idea that we ever interfere with the fed's independence is not only bad for the markets, but bad for people's faith in the markets and our economy. hands off. the reason why you are seeing

such an overwhelming reaction from democrats and republicans is because everyone agrees the fed should be independent under any president. dasha: before i let you both go, stock trading ban. this has been in the works for a while. the current plan would allow lawmakers to hold the current stocks they own but require seven-day notice before making sales, would also bar lawmakers and their spouses from buying new stocks. does this go far enough? rep. gottheimer: i'm very supportive of the bill that has a lot of backing so far, not the one introduced yesterday that says there should not be ownership against a period of time. dasha: you think this is to watered down? -- too watered down? rep. gottheimer: i just got this yesterday, so i have not fully gotten every opinion on this thing. i think we should be tough on this. i have no problem with that. rep. lawler: i am someone who believes we should ban stock

trading. i have long believed that. the reality is you are privy to too much information, even if you are not doing something untoward, the reality is you are aware of things that the average american is not, especially around things like timing. from my vantage point, it's imperative we get something done here. there is been disagreement on some things. you have members of congress who may have had careers in corporations holding stocks tied to that. the concern is it would preclude people from running for office and being elected to congress. trying to find a middle ground is the objective. i think german styles has done a good job trying to prevent trading in office, but allow them to keep the things they had coming in. dasha: maybe they can do something to help the

terrible poll numbers. new york republican congressman mike lawler and new jersey democratic congressman josh gottheimer. rep. lawler: thank you so much. rep. gottheimer: appreciated. dasha: let's turn to this week's c-span flashback, where we dive deep into the video archives. we take you to the run-up to the midterm elections in 2006 when the stakes felt strikingly familiar, the middle of resident george w. bush's second term. republicans held a majority, but concerns over terrorism in the war in iraq dominated the national conversation. here's president bush responding to a reporter. >> i understand why you would assert the republicans will win the midterm elections, but if in your heart you did not think that, would you tell us? and are you resentful that some republican candidates seem to be distancing themselves from you? pres bush: no, nor am i

resentful that democrats are using my picture. all i ask is they pick out a good one. make me look good at least on my picture. if i thought we would lose i would tell you. we will not lose, my heart of hearts. look at the newspapers around here, i can see why you think that i'm concealing something in my heart of hearts. the race is over as of hea -- is over as far as the punditry goes. they've got it all figured out. they are dancing in the end zone, they just have not scored the touchdown. there's a lot of time left. these candidates are working hard out there. my message is keep talking about the security of the united states and keep taxes low.

dasha: democrats ended over a decade of republican rule, sweeping majorities of both chambers of congress, governorships, and state legislatures. we have two political pros from both sides of the aisle to look ahead to the elections this year and beyond. democratic starch was just kevin walling served as a surrogate for the biden and harris campaigns, and republican strategist ryan lanza, former senior advisor to the 2024 trump campaign. we could use two campaign brains for this decision. i want to talk about them in terms. -- about the midterms. you just heard president george w. bush. how much does that take you back? brian: it was a different time. you appreciate the president's confidence, but you saw what happened at the end of the day. at that point bush wanted to focus on taxes, on terrorism.

i think the three t's campaign. it certainly was not tariffs. it will always be about the economy. we are getting the sense that trump and his team are starting to shift focus to it. i hope november is not the same flashback. dasha: are you hoping for a replay of 2006? kevin: i'm happy you did not play the press conference with obama after he said he got shellacked in 2010. dasha: democrats and republicans have felt it. kevin: it's important to remember president george w. bush was the only president in the first midterm election that increased his majority in the republican majority. there are cases in recent history where the party in power loses ground. that was the outlier in president bush's first midterm election. we are pretty bullish, but part of this is managing expectations. the number of seats in play,

since that press conference, has gone down with gerrymandering. dasha: you heard the president responding to a question about whether he's resentful that some republicans are distancing themselves. every time this happens, the president plays such a big role even if he's not on the ballot. is president trump an asset or liability for these races? bryan: at the end of the day the republican candidates have to make it into an asset. if you look at historical patterns, nixon, carter, they will say the historical trend is if the president and power is doing really well, then the party out of power will do well itself. if we start to jump ship and say the sky is falling, that will mean it will weaken trump further, which will have a negative impact on the race.

what i tell candidates is whatever the president is achieving, it will have a direct impact and you have to sell that in the best way, because if you distance yourself then you just suppress your base. dasha: how big of a factor do dems want to make it? kevin: it makes sense to nationalize the elections. one of the big takeaways from the 2025 elections is localizing these races. democrats have seen success in these state legislative seats. we are 25-0 in flipping state legislative seats by localizing the elections and focusing on bread-and-butter issues like mikie sherrill and abigail spanberger did. we have never seen an incumbent president sitting on such a war chest. in terms of running away from president trump, he's sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars, and this is his last election cycle.

susie wiles and others say he will be out front and center. he likes to be praised, as we know. if you see these candidates run away from him, that's a lot of money they are running away from. dasha: let's look at this headline from the new york post. nrcc home show very bullish republicans will hold the house in 2026, despite historical headwinds. is this positive thinking, the vibe? bryan: i think there's some data that supports optimism. historical trends say we will lose the midterms. but if you look at where we were in 2019 when the democrats were trying to take control of the house of representatives, the republican generic, the democrat generic, dems had a 12 point advantage. today it's a 1 to 2 point advantage. given the groundswell that there will be another wave, gerrymandering had a huge impact, so i don't suspect we will have the same wave.

the generic is still very close. it is double digits behind where it was in 2019. that is what has given republicans the optimism that they still have a chance that there has not been this separation between the generic republicans and democrats and they can fill that with an economic message. dasha: let's listen to the president on this. pres. trump: you go back a long way, the sitting president always loses the midterm, even if they've done well, almost always. you think it would be like a 50-50 deal even if the president has done a great job. but they always seem to lose the midterm. there's something down deep psychologically with the voters that they want may be a check or something? i don't know what it is exactly. you think when you have the victory and a great successful presidency it would be an

automatic win, but it's never been a win. hopefully we will change that. dasha: he's not projecting his usual immense confidence. is he managing expectations? bryan: he's looking at history. at the end of the day, history is not on our side. what i would stress to republicans, bill clinton did well in his '96 election. it was the second term, democrats did well. bill clinton did well, but the reason was because republicans overreached with impeachment. we are hearing a lot of impeachment conversation. that does turn off voters. if republicans spend the next nine months say we have articles filed, this is their only path for the future, i think that's predicates even smaller and we have it reasonably optimistic. the president knows what the data looks like, but you have to fight until the end.

dasha: how careful do democrats have to be with impeachment talk? kevin: incredibly. as we have seen in the bill clinton reference, and even trump's impeachment, his numbers went up when he was, that democrats -- when he was impeached, that was a tightrope. i don't think we will see this shellacking that we saw with 2010 when it was a 64 seat flip. we are talking may be single digits for the democratic pickup. politico report has it at 17 seats that are pure tossup's. that is a small playing field. dasha: is that a reason for republicans to be optimistic, or

nervous? bryan: i think optimistic. what voters are looking for in november, it will be resolved by july, the economy. pollsters are telling you that the vast majority of the electorate makes up the decision of the economy in july. the data is there that when trump took office, it is better than hunter biden. interest rates are a bit lower, gas is cheaper. there's all these arguments they could make. they just have to make sure that people believe that in june and july. if you wait until november, you have already lost your case. dasha: are republicans on the same page as the president about the message? he's trying to talk about the economy, but now you have headlines about jay powell and the independence of the fed and spent the first couple weeks of

the year focused on foreign policy. bryan: he cannot lose focus of what matters, the economy. external factors are what they are. powell is an external factor. at the end of the day, the pocketbook issue is what voters will look at. do i have more money to spend today that i did under joe biden? the data says yes. the challenge for this republican president is to make people feel that. dasha: how can democrats take advantage? kevin: take it from the guy that tried to sell bidenomics for those years, if people don't feel it in their pocketbooks, 40% of americans, many of them watching this program today, cannot incur a $400 debt. we have a lot of great lessons

learned from virginia and new jersey when it comes to putting concrete ideas out there. you cannot just run on the general notion of affordability. you have to talk about tackling utility costs and supply chain resilience, tangible things, not just the general optics of affordability. it is a difficult road to hoe. the white house is figuring out they have to do it. the president was talking about the economy this week. with the headlines coming out of iran, venezuela, he has to focus on that support. bryan: the powell interest rates fight taking place, the president has one weapon there. when a new fed chair comes in, they have the ability to shock the system, to say we will not drop interest rates by one point, we will drop it by two. we don't know what the world will look like after that.

that at least showed to the american public president trump is trying to drive down costs. they may be a short-term win, long-term economic damage, but the election is in november. we've never seen that before. dasha: does that tool worry you? kevin: you saw the video powell released in terms of not responding to political pressure, when they look at the data in terms of job growth, job loss, and interest-rate situation, it is problematic. you've seen democrats not big supporters of the current chairman, even though he was appointed by trump around one, coming to the defense of the independence of the fed. i worry about the political implications. dasha: what is the risk reward? bryan is saying, new fed lowers

rates significantly, that is a benefit. bryan: people have more money in their pockets immediately. kevin: i think it's a very short-term hyped up opium boost to the economy. i would then argue the long-term ramifications of the initial boost when it comes to actual inflation and job growth as a result of that. when you gin up that economy quickly, as we saw during the covid crisis, and there's a lot of commercial engagement, there are long-term ramifications. dasha: the wall street journal sums up the situation for democrats like this. trump's low approval ratings plus gop retirements and a razor thin majority show risks for republicans. is there a coherent strategy for democrats right now, or is it ad-hoc take advantage where you can? kevin: it is generally taking advantage where you can. the one thing you can count on

with president trump is the ability to control the narrative quickly. think week to week what we've talked about, foreign policy. his ability to control the narrative is something that powered him in 2016, powered his come back in 2024. democrats just need to focus on those bread-and-butter issues, specifically on what is in people's pocketbooks, health care costs. an important job in the government shutdown last fall, putting health care front and center will be critical. focusing on those issues, not taking the bait every time, but being focused on the economy and health care is the winning message for democrats. dasha: hearing kevin now, is there a pit in your stomach in

this moment? bryan: there's always a pit in my stomach because it always depends on turnout. from my standpoint, we knew the day after president trump won the election in 2024 that this midterm was going to be tough. we knew the next day that historical data said it was against us, the only way we could push back was by creating a strong economy that people fee l. the administration will make the case of the foundations are there for a strong economy. they just have to highlight it. president trump has only had high favorables two months after his entire electoral career. we are used to fighting with president trump's approval ratings being upside down. that usually was an indicator in the past. and we have weapons.

president trump still has tools where he can turn things and adjust it. dropping a new fed chairman makes noise for months. president trump can cause some of these tariffs. those are real tools that he has. we will see what it looks like if and when he pulls those triggers. i still feel we have a lot of tools that can help. dasha: a lot of the focus has been on the house, but let's talk about the senate. there's hope for democrats. they need a net gain of four seats. what is the outlook for the senate right now? kevin: there is that glimmer of hope, especially with the news out of alaska with our former congresswoman. dasha: former representative mary pelota jumps into the alaska senate race, will likely

face off against senator dan sullivan and is a recruitment coup for natural democrats -- for national democrats. kevin: i give leader schumer credit on that. alaska has that ranked choice voting that we saw play out with sarah palin when she was looking to make a come back to the house. folks are hopeful. she is an independent streak. her announcement video praised two former long-term republican s, ted stevens. dasha: you talk about localizing. kevin: alaska is a special, unique place. same with hawaii, separated from the mainland. their politics are different. she's running against the washington establishment in that announcement race. folks are hopeful about sherrod brown. donald trump won ohio by double digits. sherrod brown only kept his loss margin to 3.5 points, a huge

over performance over generic dems. north carolina and maine, we saw a position trump on the attack against suzanne collins in maine, who will be the republican nominee. we have to figure out what that will look like on our side in terms of taking her on. dasha: before the camera started rolling, you guys already got talking about 2028. we just started 2026, but it is on the horizon. right now it looks like vice president jd vance has some momentum. take a listen to glenn youngkin. >> as people speculate on what will happen down the road in 2028, i agree with president trump and marco rubio, jd vance would make a great presidential nominee. dasha: the outgoing virginia governor there. how likely is it at this point that vance is the guy for republicans?

bryan: the data says it's likely. he has the largest lead of anybody when president trump ran four years ago. desantis, there was a 12 point spread at the highest. j.d. has a 35 point lead over everyone else. the fundamentals are set up for him to run well in the primary. god willing we get kamala harris again and we have that same type of rematch. i think the country wants this rematch. kevin: i don't know if democrats want that. [laughter] dasha: what are the chances it is harris? kevin: it was interesting she looked at the california governor's race, fairly wide open on our side, and chose to set that one out. she kicked off the second leg of her book tour. she's down nationally against gavin newsom on the generic front.

there's a question for democrats as to what states go first. that determines who our nominee is. gavin newsom leads every poll on the national front, but he's running neck and neck with pete buttigieg in new hampshire. the early primary states -- dasha: your top three? kevin: john shapiro, gavin newsom and vice president harris. dasha: i want to turn to one of my favorite segments, not on my bingo card, where we highlight a funny or downright weird moment. at an event on c-span, massachusetts democrat nick senator elizabeth warren talked about lowering costs and expanding housing. she called for president trump to get on the phone with members of the house and senate. you may be surprised with how he responded. sen. warren: the republicans are saying in the house they cannot do that. where is donald trump? has he lifted a finger to move that bill forward in the house

of representatives? he sure knows how to get on the phone when he does not like what they are doing over the epstein files. he knows how to get on the phone when he does not like what someone's trying to do over venezuela, but is he on the phone to say move that housing bill so that we can start right now today on expanding more housing in america? i'm in the car going back to my office afterwards, phone rings, it is donald trump. [laughter] >> did you recognize the phone number? >> no. actually i almost did not pick up, because i did not recognize the number. i thought 202, it's someone here in washington, and it was. i talked to him. that's exactly what we talked about, the importance of moving forward on lowering costs. dasha: talk about not on my bingo card.

[laughter] bryan: he will call people. we knew this in 2016. he's not opposed to: a republican or democrat when it comes to finding a solution. that's the thing we almost forget, for the vast majority of donald trump's professional career he was a democrat, so he has these existing relationships. if there's anybody that will bring us together in a bipartisan way, i think it's donald trump. dasha: calling elizabeth warren. kevin: wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall for that? dasha: please dial us us. kevin: i think the president will get credit with a good amount of the american people if he sees them taking action on this. not necessarily get it -- getting it passed, but voters respond to officials at least

working to get action. if voters perceive you are actually doing something about this issue, i think you will get rewarded. dasha: that is the spirit of ceasefire. may be the president is taking a cue from you coming on the show. bryan: maybe he can be your next best. dasha: let's get our producers on it. that is all the time we have. thank you for joining ceasefire. let's close this week's program with our ceasefire moment of the week, highlighting what is possible when politicians come together. longtime house member steny hoyer announced he will not seek another term. here is a portion of the maryland democrat's emotional speech on the house floor. >> i've won elections and lost a couple, celebrated triumphs and suffered setbacks, enjoyed

friendships and endured hardships. as the song says, some days are diamonds, some days are stone. happily, i've experienced more diamonds than stone. shakespeare advised us all, this above all else, to thine own self be true. it must follow as night the day , thou canst not be false to any man or any woman. in that vein, mr. speaker, i have decided not to seek another term in the people's house. i make this decision with sadness, for i love this house, an institution the framers designed to reflect the will of the american people, to serve as the guardian of their liberty and democracy. thank you all. mr. speaker, with tremendous gratitude, i yield back.

[applause] dasha: steny hoyer embraced many of his fellow house members, including republican leader at steve scully's. hoyer will leave his post after 45 years at the end of this current congress. that is all the time we have for this episode. here's a look at our guests for next time. ceasefire is available as a podcast. find us in the usual places. i'm dasha burns, and remember whether or not you agree, keep talking and keep listening. ♪

>> at noon, live coverage of the inauguration of virginia governor-elect abigail spanberger. from richmond, virginia, watch live at 12:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org. >> in a divided media world, one place brings americans together. according to a new research report, nearly 90 million americans turn to c-span and they are almost perfectly balanced. 28 percent conservative, 27 percent liberal or progressive, democrats watching republicans, republicans watching democrats, moderates watching all sides because c-span viewers want the facts straight from the source, no commentary, no agenda, just democracy unfiltered every day on the c-span networks. >> as congress returns to

washington for the second session of the 119th congress, lawmakers face a january 30 deadline to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year and avoid a shutdown. president trump begins the second year of his term with major foreign and legal issues in focus including venezuela. attention is turning to 2026, the midterm elections with every seat in the u.s. house on the ballot. all 430 five voting members and five nonvoting delegates. many will compete in newly redrawn districts including texas. voters will also decide 30 three u.s. senate races and 36 gubernatorial contests. high-profile mayoral elections in los angeles, san francisco, and in new orleans where clashes with the trump administration shaped national debates in the road to the white house takes form as potential 2028 presidential contenders test the waters. follow it on c-span as events unfold in congress come the white house, the supreme court, and the